UCF's small senior class helped fuel Knights' run to Fiesta Bowl

December 9, 2013|By Paul Tenorio, Orlando Sentinel

UCF coach George O'Leary examined his roster before the season and saw a team primed for a big year — in 2014.

With so much inexperience on defense, O'Leary admitted even he thought the 15th-ranked Knights would need one more season to round into form and compete among the top programs in the country. Instead, UCF (11-1) captured the American Athletic Conference title and booked a trip to the Fiesta Bowl against No. 6 Baylor on Jan. 1.

The Knights did so despite a roster that includes just seven scholarship seniors. O'Leary met with that small senior class on Sunday night to congratulate the players on their efforts to maintain control of a younger locker room.

"That's hard because you've got a lot of unknowns with the younger players that had to play this year," O'Leary said. "I thought [the seniors] did an outstanding job, not just on the field but off the field in making sure the kids understood the UCF way and how to do things the correct way. … I think they were a major impact on the success of the team."

The 67-year-old coach, who was named a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award, credited recruiting for the Knights' success despite such a young and inexperienced roster.

"I've always said that recruiting is a business," O'Leary said. "Recruit players that fit in the culture of your program. I think the coaches have done a great job of doing that. There's a lot of kids that we probably could have taken that just weren't good fits with what we wanted to get done here."

O'Leary and several assistant coaches continued to build upon those efforts on Monday, hitting the road to recruit and try to capitalize on the team's unprecedented success. The staff will begin preparation for the Bears (11-1) this week and players will return to practice on Dec. 17 to ready themselves for the program's first-ever BCS game.

The Knights are considered major underdogs in the contest, with the high-scoring Bears favored by more than two touchdowns, but O'Leary said he is not concerned about those projections.

"I do know we'll practice well, and we'll go out and play well," he said. "We'll compete, and I'll get a chance to sit down and look at Baylor in-depth and see what's [strong] about them. And I'm sure they'll do the same with us. Our players will compete."